German Chancellor Angela Merkel

BERLIN, June 27. /TASS/. The Ukrainian government should hold elections in Donbass, Chancellor Merkel said after talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Vladimir Groisman on Monday.

"Naturally, we discussed the situation in Donetsk and Lugansk. We were forced to state that stable truce has not been achieved yet. This is regrettable. Within the framework of the Normandy format we will try to support and protect the interests of Ukrainians, to make their life better and to hold elections in these territories," Merkel said.

Merkel said that "this will be hard to achieve."

"But I believe that the government (of Ukraine) should after all support that," she said, adding that "the elections cannot be held for objective reasons - the situation in Donbass is just unsafe."

According to Merkel, the question of Ukraine’s admission to the European Union is not on the current agenda, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Vladimir Groisman.

"I am not going to raise groundless hopes. First, I believe it is necessary to implement the agreement on Ukraine’s association with the European Union. The question of its admission to the European Union is not on the agenda, but we wish to support Ukraine to bring it closer to EU standards," she said.

Earlier on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer told the media that Ukraine’s membership of the European Union would not on the agenda in the foreseeable future.

The Normandy Four talks

The German chancellor did not rule out that a meeting of the "Normandy Four" leaders could be held at an early date.

"The time for a meeting in the ‘Normandy format’ has not come yet," she said. "I do not rule out that things will go that far in the foreseeable future. However, I cannot say yet where and what this ‘foreseeable future’ means," she said.